torredcuda
Well-Known Member
Great work!
1969 Roadrunner Full Restoration
- Thread starter Sabre_3
- Start date
Sabre_3
Well-Known Member
Sabre_3
Well-Known Member
Ok...I’ve got updates....
I made a template for the frame rail pictured below.
As you can see, both the crossmember and the perpendicular frame rail intersection are cooked! The frame rail intersection was a fairly complex piece to model/sketch. I decided to use painters tape to outline the frame rail profile. I used the profile to establish length and width.
Here's the 14 Gauge sheetmetal bent to the template measurements.
Here are the flanges being bent and shaped according to my template.
Fitment and fine tuning with the crossmember replace piece I fabricated last week.
Plan view of newly fabricated frame rail and partial crossmember.
The piece above should fit between the two taped lines....fingers crossed.
Might be able wee beefier than OEM.
I'll post when I burn'm in!
Semper Fi
Sabre_3
I made a template for the frame rail pictured below.
As you can see, both the crossmember and the perpendicular frame rail intersection are cooked! The frame rail intersection was a fairly complex piece to model/sketch. I decided to use painters tape to outline the frame rail profile. I used the profile to establish length and width.
Here's the 14 Gauge sheetmetal bent to the template measurements.
Here are the flanges being bent and shaped according to my template.
Fitment and fine tuning with the crossmember replace piece I fabricated last week.
Plan view of newly fabricated frame rail and partial crossmember.
The piece above should fit between the two taped lines....fingers crossed.
Might be able wee beefier than OEM.
I'll post when I burn'm in!
Semper Fi
Sabre_3
torredcuda
Well-Known Member
Love seeing you hand fabricate parts where most would just buy the repro part and either install whole or cut and use what they needed from it. I spent a 9-10 yea hiatas from my real career doing autobody for a living but my real career was in precision sheet metal shops. I ran almost every machine in the shop - shears, punch presses, press brakes etc. along with programming, engineering, supervising etc. so I know what it takes to make nice parts. I hand fabricated floor pans for old `69 Barracuda including the stiffening ribs and plenty of other patch panels over the years.
Russ69Runner
Well-Known Member
I found that replacing the hole part was faster than peacing it. I also knew that it was all new. These cars take a lot longer than we figure in the beginning. Mine was on the 5 years outside without working on it every day. But never have regrated it now that I am going to car shows and winning trophy's and Plack's. You can say I did this and be proud of what you were able to do. Not taking it to a shop to do the work makes the car more personable to you and it is a part of your life. Keep us updated on the progress keep up the good work. Russ.
torredcuda
Well-Known Member
Sometimes it`s easier/better to repair a section other times replacing the whole piece - depends on the extent or the rust/damage. I spliced in homemade sections of the rear frame rails on my Barracuda because only the rear area was rusted and back in the early 90`s they didn`t reproduce them.
Sabre_3
Well-Known Member
That's AWESOME!!!!
Thank you for sharing. I watched a lot of YouTube videos....mostly Fitzee's fabrications. Love that guy! Has only the basic tools: hammers, assorted Grinders, Bench vice and scrap steel laying around. I watch his videos for hours, Take notes and go give it a try in my shop....so Far so good....
Getting ready to cut out the old rusty stuff and burn in the new stuff!
Semper Fi
Sabre_3
Sabre_3
Well-Known Member
Absolutely sir!
Thank you so much for the encouragement!!!
We'll keep you close on this.
Semper Fi
Sabre_3
Sabre_3
Well-Known Member
Yup...probably should have replaced the entire crossmember. But, I wanted the experience of working with that 14 Gauge metal and hand fabricating the piece to my measurements and design. Plus I wanted the experience of messing it up and working through the problems....I’ve always been hard headed like that...there's always the easy way, which is nice to have in the back of my mind if I really mess up. I love the challenge though!
Semper Fi
Sabre_3
Sabre_3
Well-Known Member
Ok...here's where's we're at:
Using 1/8 × 1 to stabilize the rest of the frame.
Tacked those puppies in and started removing spot welds.
Used the newly fabricated partial frame rail as a guide, I made my cuts and removed the rotten crossmember.
Here's a good illustration of what we're dealing with.
I tacked in the partial crossmember replacement, stitch welded the "easily accessible" areas and then ground down the welds. I repeated the process for the "easily accessible areas" until I was satisfied there were no weld gaps and everything was smooth. I simply ran out of time and needed to finish up so I could go to work the next day.
Now, I need to completely weld in the remaining exterior gaps. Then weld in the partial crossmember interior for extra strength. Then fabricate the interior crossmember structure that were removed (See below).
Fortunately, I have a good template made from the Passenger side crossmember.
I'll keep you posted on the progress!
Semper Fi
Sabre_3
Using 1/8 × 1 to stabilize the rest of the frame.
Tacked those puppies in and started removing spot welds.
Used the newly fabricated partial frame rail as a guide, I made my cuts and removed the rotten crossmember.
Here's a good illustration of what we're dealing with.
I tacked in the partial crossmember replacement, stitch welded the "easily accessible" areas and then ground down the welds. I repeated the process for the "easily accessible areas" until I was satisfied there were no weld gaps and everything was smooth. I simply ran out of time and needed to finish up so I could go to work the next day.
Now, I need to completely weld in the remaining exterior gaps. Then weld in the partial crossmember interior for extra strength. Then fabricate the interior crossmember structure that were removed (See below).
Fortunately, I have a good template made from the Passenger side crossmember.
I'll keep you posted on the progress!
Semper Fi
Sabre_3
torredcuda
Well-Known Member
I`m sure those c-clamps work just fine but you might want to add some more vise grips of different shapes and sizes as it will make clamping easier and faster. I have some modified to fit certain areas as well. https://www.eastwood.com/search/?q=vise+grips
Sabre_3
Well-Known Member
Ok...the weather outside is...less than desirable. So I haven't been in the shop as much as I'd like over the past few weeks.
So what can I bring inside to work on? The gauge cluster!
It's got the Voltag Limiter and the Condenser and one lamp. All the pins appear to be there which is nice!
The front plastic cover is off but has a few scratches that needs attention. I cleaned and waxed the clear plastic which made a noticeable difference. However, I'd really like to polish those deeper scratches away.
I might get a new board with a solid state voltage limiter. Hopefully I can locate the cannon plug that hooks up to the pins. Right now, it's difficult getting continuity very far from the pins.
I tested the Ameter, Fuel Guage, and Coolant Gauge for a simple operation check with a 9 Volt Battery. All 3 Gauges responded with the test voltage. Now I need to build a low-voltage electrical system based on resistance to see if the Gauges read accurately.
We're still chipping away at this ol-girl!
Merry Christmas!
Semper Fi
Sabre_3
So what can I bring inside to work on? The gauge cluster!
It's got the Voltag Limiter and the Condenser and one lamp. All the pins appear to be there which is nice!
The front plastic cover is off but has a few scratches that needs attention. I cleaned and waxed the clear plastic which made a noticeable difference. However, I'd really like to polish those deeper scratches away.
I might get a new board with a solid state voltage limiter. Hopefully I can locate the cannon plug that hooks up to the pins. Right now, it's difficult getting continuity very far from the pins.
I tested the Ameter, Fuel Guage, and Coolant Gauge for a simple operation check with a 9 Volt Battery. All 3 Gauges responded with the test voltage. Now I need to build a low-voltage electrical system based on resistance to see if the Gauges read accurately.We're still chipping away at this ol-girl!
Merry Christmas!
Semper Fi
Sabre_3
quikbird
Well-Known Member
I think the plastic gauge cover is available repopped
Sabre_3
Well-Known Member
Ok...I've got updates...
So, the weather over Christmas has been unseasoneably warm in central Illinois. As a result, I got to take advantage of the late December temperatures and finished one of my many frame rail projects.
Take a peek and try not to laugh too much.
Bottom of crossmember frame patch. I tacked welded in 5 locations and then stitch-welded in the gaps. There was an are with a 1/8" gap. I clamped in a small block of aluminum into the inside of the frame rail patch and stitch-welded across the gap. The 6" C-Clamp was used to clamp, align and hold the crossmember patch. Notice the gap between the patch and the original crossmember piece. I used the Aluminum plate to allow for the appropriate stitch-welds.
The 6" C-Clamp is holding patch to the original crossmember. I tackle-welded where the patch and original crossmember was approximately 1/16" gap. You can see where there is an 1/8" gap: I used the small Aluminum plate to allow for filling the gap with weld. Worked like a charm.
Here it is all booger-welded in. Ya...gonna have lots of grinder time!
After many hours of grinding, filling small holes, more grinding, filling small holes with weld and grinding again: the booger-welds are smoothed out and the seam is blended in.
Ground down booger-welds on the bottom of the crossmember patch.
Almost no visible joint near the rocker panels.
I applied weld-thru primer to all for the inner structural bracing to be fabricated this weekend.
You can definitely see the weld seam on the innermost joint.
So, the weather over Christmas has been unseasoneably warm in central Illinois. As a result, I got to take advantage of the late December temperatures and finished one of my many frame rail projects.
Take a peek and try not to laugh too much.
Bottom of crossmember frame patch. I tacked welded in 5 locations and then stitch-welded in the gaps. There was an are with a 1/8" gap. I clamped in a small block of aluminum into the inside of the frame rail patch and stitch-welded across the gap. The 6" C-Clamp was used to clamp, align and hold the crossmember patch. Notice the gap between the patch and the original crossmember piece. I used the Aluminum plate to allow for the appropriate stitch-welds.
The 6" C-Clamp is holding patch to the original crossmember. I tackle-welded where the patch and original crossmember was approximately 1/16" gap. You can see where there is an 1/8" gap: I used the small Aluminum plate to allow for filling the gap with weld. Worked like a charm.
Here it is all booger-welded in. Ya...gonna have lots of grinder time!
After many hours of grinding, filling small holes, more grinding, filling small holes with weld and grinding again: the booger-welds are smoothed out and the seam is blended in.
Ground down booger-welds on the bottom of the crossmember patch.
Almost no visible joint near the rocker panels.
I applied weld-thru primer to all for the inner structural bracing to be fabricated this weekend.
You can definitely see the weld seam on the innermost joint.
Sabre_3
Well-Known Member
Continued....
Join weld seam barely visible on the outermost joint.
I'm finishing the frame rail member that runs perpendicular to the crossmember. Hopefully, I'll get that burned in this weekend, do my final welds and finish this small project.
Let me know what you think!
Semper Fi
Sabre_3
Join weld seam barely visible on the outermost joint.
I'm finishing the frame rail member that runs perpendicular to the crossmember. Hopefully, I'll get that burned in this weekend, do my final welds and finish this small project.
Let me know what you think!
Semper Fi
Sabre_3
Sabre_3
Well-Known Member
I'm gonna try polishing out the scratches and try to save the original. We'll see how it goes!
Semper Fi
Sabre_3